Bob Pittman-helmed Clear Channel Communications is splashing the cash as it attempts to right the ship and rebrand itself as a hip digital music giant and dump its radio and outdoor sign origins.

At the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in France, Clear Channel International, hoped to make a big splash by hosting a VIP party featuring Elton John at the ultra-luxe Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, and an after-party on a Clear Channel yacht.

Clear Channel is also in the midst of planning its hugely popular iHeartRadio concert in Las Vegas.

But perhaps debt-laden Clear Channel is encouraging too much fun, since some are raising eyebrows about what Boston-based backers Thomas H. Lee Partners must be making of all the revelry. The private-equity firm spent $18 billion acquiring the property in 2008, just before the worst ad dip in 50 years.

Others defend Pittman’s rebranding efforts as a necessary evil in changing perception of the company on Madison Avenue. Claire Atkinson

‘50 Shades’ of green

Mommy porn is breaking records!

First, E.L. James’ racy debut book, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” became the first book to sell more than 1 million downloads for the Amazon Kindle last week. Then it set a new weekly record with 200,000 paperback copies flying off the shelf.

Recent whispers have circulated of two more actors in the mix to land roles in sure-fire cash-cow film adaptation; Universal Pictures and Focus Features have the rights.

Hollywood “It Girl” Emma Stone (pictured) is being heavily pursued to play naive college graduate Anastasia Steele, and Joe Manganiello of HBO’s “True Blood” fame is high on the list to portray her lover, the dominant billionaire Christian Grey.

“Execs at Universal saw [Manganiello] strut around barely clothed in ‘Magic Mike’ and immediately saw him paired with Stone,” a Tinseltown insider tells On the Money. “The two are young, hot actors and would turn the buzz into a chain saw. The one problem: Stone is in such high demand they may have to break the bank to get her.”

At this point, it’s safe to say James has sold enough copies to repay her seven-figure book advance twice over, earning the standard 7 percent royalty on every $14 paperback sold and 25 percent royalty on every $10 e-book snapped up.

In June, the author saw a weekly paycheck of $1.35 million.

Another check is headed her way in September when publishing company Vintage Books forks over an additional $20 million for her services.

“The only mistake [James] made was accepting $5 million for the movie rights,” our insider suggested. “She could have easily gotten double that.” Joseph Barracato

Coal turkey

In his recent activist attack on Yahoo!, Dan Loeb listed an earlier battle with Massey Energy as one of his top successes. But now that the coal dust has settled, that’s not the way it’s portrayed in a new book on the mining and energy company, “Thunder on the Mountain: Death at Massey and the Dirty Secrets Behind Big Coal” by former BusinessWeek reporter Peter Galuszka..

Loeb first targeted Massey in September 2005 and gained board seats in 2006. But he sold out in 2007 after losing 59 percent on his investment — one of his worst drubbings.

The hotshot activist was apparently no match for Massey CEO Don Blankenship and other execs, according to board members quoted in the book, which will be published in September by St. Martin’s Press.

One called Loeb and colleague Todd Swanson, who also got a board seat, “renegades, young and brash, who did not have experience in coal.”

The men did not want to reform Massey, which had a reputation for “hardball labor, safety laxity and environmental ruin,” writes Galuzska.

They only wanted to sell it, which the board resisted doing until the company had no other choice.

Years after Loeb was gone, an explosion on April 5, 2010, at one of the Massey mines left 29 miners dead, and Massey’s fate was sealed.

Facing $2 billion in lawsuits and criminal violations, Massey agreed to sell to Alpha Natural Resources for $7.1 billion in late January 2011. By that time, Loeb had jumped back into the stock, and finally mined a profit on Massey. Michelle Celarier